Joshua 6:1-27\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Now the gates of Jericho\u00a0were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.\u00a0 2\u00a0Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Joshua, \u201cSee, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.\u00a03\u00a0March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.\u00a04\u00a0Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams\u2019 horns\u00a0in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.\u00a05\u00a0When you hear them sound a long blast\u00a0on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout;\u00a0then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.\u201d\u00a0 6\u00a0So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, \u201cTake up the ark of the covenant of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.\u201d\u00a07\u00a0And he ordered the army, \u201cAdvance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark\u00a0of the\u00a0Lord.\u201d 8\u00a0When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the\u00a0Lord\u00a0went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the\u00a0Lord\u2019s covenant followed them.\u00a09\u00a0The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard\u00a0followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding.\u00a010\u00a0But Joshua had commanded the army, \u201cDo not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!\u201d\u00a011\u00a0So he had the ark of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>12\u00a0Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the\u00a0Lord.\u00a013\u00a0The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the\u00a0Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding.\u00a014\u00a0So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.\u00a0 15\u00a0On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.\u00a016\u00a0The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, \u201cShout! For the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has given you the city!\u00a017\u00a0The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the\u00a0Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute\u00a0and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid\u00a0the spies we sent.\u00a018\u00a0But keep away from the devoted things,\u00a0so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction\u00a0and bring trouble\u00a0on it.\u00a019\u00a0All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron\u00a0are sacred to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0and must go into his treasury.\u201d\u00a0 20\u00a0When the trumpets sounded,\u00a0the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,\u00a0the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.\u00a021\u00a0They devoted\u00a0the city to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0and destroyed\u00a0with the sword every living thing in it\u2014men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.\u00a0 22\u00a0Joshua said to the two men\u00a0who had spied out\u00a0the land, \u201cGo into the prostitute\u2019s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.\u201d\u00a023\u00a0So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her.\u00a0They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.\u00a0 24\u00a0Then they burned the whole city\u00a0and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron\u00a0into the treasury of the\u00a0Lord\u2019s house.\u00a025\u00a0But Joshua spared\u00a0Rahab the prostitute,\u00a0with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho\u2014and she lives among the Israelites to this day.\u00a0 26\u00a0At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: \u201cCursed\u00a0before the\u00a0Lord\u00a0is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: \u201cAt the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.\u201d\u00a0 27\u00a0So the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was with Joshua,\u00a0and his fame spread\u00a0throughout the land.<\/i><\/p>\n
The residents of Jericho were afraid.\u00a0 They had heard of how the God of Israel went before them and protected them. They had heard of the great miracles he had done and that Israel had overcome all adversaries.\u00a0 They were afraid that they would lose their city, lose their riches and their property, and perhaps even lose their lives.\u00a0 So they came up with the best plan they could think of.\u00a0 They had built fortified walls around their city so that they thought they were safe.\u00a0\u00a0 They felt secure in all their plans.\u00a0 Yet, they had not thought to go out to the Israelites to try to make a peace agreement with them.\u00a0 They instead would trust themselves to withstand, or defeat the God of the Israelites.\u00a0 Still today that is a bad plan.<\/p>\n
God told Joshua what to do when they came to Jericho (as described in\u00a0Vs. 3-5<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0God assured them the victory if they would do as the Lord told them.<\/p>\n
Joshua, who had proven himself faithful in the scouting out of the Promised Land and so he would do exactly what the Lord told Him to do.\u00a0\u00a0Now let\u2019s face it, the commands that the Lord gave to Joshua probably sounded odd.\u00a0\u00a0Why march silently around a strong fort that had to that day, had been unbreachable? It seemed an odd plan but Joshua did not doubt.\u00a0\u00a0His faith was bulletproof.\u00a0\u00a0Joshua remembered what the Lord had done and so no matter how weird the commands of God seemed, He would do it.\u00a0\u00a0God says go, he went.\u00a0\u00a0God says stop, he stops.\u00a0\u00a0No questions asked.\u00a0\u00a0And this order would have seemed very odd, except that it came from God. God made it all reasonable.<\/p>\n
As God had done for Joshua He has given us, and more. He has given to us proof in the Word and in our life experiences to also know not to doubt God.\u00a0\u00a0Think about it.<\/p>\n
Joshua\u2019s birth name was Hoshea.\u00a0\u00a0Moses had changed his name from Hoshea to Joshua.\u00a0\u00a0Moses changed his name before the twelve, who were selected to go and scout out the Promised Land, had left to do so.\u00a0\u00a0Hoshea meant \u201csalvation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Joshua meant \u201cthe LORD is salvation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So Joshua\u2019s name had meant just \u201csalvation\u201d and became the more specific of \u201cthe LORD is salvation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Thus the Lord gave Joshua a name meaning that salvation of His people would come only from Him, and not from themselves or any other.\u00a0\u00a0Salvation is not hoped for into the mist of the universe, but is placed solely in the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0So Later when fearsome giants were found in the land, Joshua could think back to his changed name and could be comforted by that statement to him from God.\u00a0\u00a0The Lord God had given Joshua that name to be a comfort and a promise to His people that no matter the circumstances faced they would not be overcome because it is the One God, the God of Israel, who was their protector and provider.\u00a0\u00a0God does everything with a reason.\u00a0\u00a0So ten of the twelve who had been sent feared because of what seemed like undefeatable opponents.\u00a0\u00a0But Joshua and Caleb did not fear because they trusted in the salvation of the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0A salvation that God had previously had shown to them His ability to do.\u00a0\u00a0Joshua had faith, bolstered by his name change.\u00a0\u00a0That name caused Joshua to not fear the enemy before him.\u00a0\u00a0He didn\u2019t fear the giants in the land, or any other enemy that they would come to face.\u00a0\u00a0He stood unmovable in His faith of the Lord and He was never disappointed by the Lord.<\/p>\n
It is the same for us.\u00a0\u00a0What God has said we believe.\u00a0\u00a0We believe and do not waiver as our relationship with Him grows.\u00a0\u00a0When we really know who God is and what God is then we do not fear.\u00a0\u00a0What He declares comes true.\u00a0\u00a0God has declared Himself our salvation and as trust Him our faith becomes sure reality and we come to the point where we, like Peter, know there are no options for salvation other than Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0(John 6:67-69<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0In Him we stand.\u00a0\u00a0There is no other.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joshua 6:1-27\u00a0–\u00a0Now the gates of Jericho\u00a0were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.\u00a0 2\u00a0Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Joshua, \u201cSee, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.\u00a03\u00a0March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.\u00a04\u00a0Have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[100,2186,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-john","tag-joshua","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2577,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions\/2577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}